Doctors at the General Hospital, Gbagada,
Lagos, southwest Nigeria, are seriously
battling to save the life of an 11-year old girl,
Ita Bassey-Eno, who was allegedly set ablaze
by the woman she lives with, Mrs Nkese
Iroakazi, a nurse at a hospital in Surulere.
Iroakazi was alleged to have poured kerosene
on Bassey-Eno before lighting a match stick to
set her ablaze after the girl was said to have
stolen a piece of meat from the pot.
Witnesses said the girl ran out of their
apartment at 7, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street,
Surulere, unto to the main road with fire all
over her body as she cried for help from
passers-by to rescue her.
It was gathered that someone quickly stopped
his vehicle and used his fire extinguisher to
put out the flame on her body.
The incident, which occurred last Saturday,
was immediately reported at the Bode Thomas
Police Station and the police from the station
arrested Mrs. Nkese.
The little girl was rushed to the Burns and
Trauma Centre, an annex of the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital at the General
Hospital, Gbagada, for urgent attention as the
doctors in the hospital said she had suffered
95 percent burns and would take a miracle
for her to survive.
Bassey-Eno’s private part was damaged, while
almost all her body is burnt. The whole of her
body, except her face and her feet, are
bandaged, while she wears pampers because
her private part was damaged.
On her hospital bed on Monday when
P.M.NEWS visited, the little was groaning in
pains while health officials described Nkese as
callous woman and that she must be made to
face the music.
Executive Director, Esther Child Rights
Foundation, ECRF, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, who was
at the hospital to see the girl, wept when she
saw her pathetic state, saying that in all her
life as human rights activist, she had never
come across such a gruesome case as that of
the little girl.
According to Ogwu, “the situation is terrible.
The doctor said the girl suffered 95 percent
burns and that her private part has been
damaged. This woman is more than wicked.
Justice must take its course.
“One of the health officials at the General
Hospital, Gbagada called me and said a
woman poured kerosene on the little girl
staying with her and lit up a match stick and
set her ablaze. The girl ran out of the house
to the main road where a Good Samaritan
used her car fire extinguisher to put out the
fire.”
Little Bassey-Eno, who hails from Akwa Ibom
State, southsouth Nigeria, was brought from
the village with another girl, Happiness Okon-
Bassey, 13, to live with Nkese in June 2013 on
the premose that she would send them to
school, but that was not to be as the two girls
allegedly performed the function of domestic
servants for Nkese.
The second house girl, Okon-Bassey, said she
did not see when her colleague was set ablaze
but that she heard her screaming when their
mistress was beating her shortly before the
she saw flame all over her body when she ran
outside their home.
She alleged that they were maltreated and
beaten thoroughly very often and that they
had no time to rest as they work almost
throughout the day for their mistress without
going to school, saying that they normally eat
twice daily.
Daughter of the alleged culprit, Ijeoma Akiti,
27, said she was not at home when the
incident occurred and that she could not tell
whether her mother poured kerosene on the
little girl’s body and set her ablaze, but that
she heard such story at the police station.
She said her mother was first married to her
father and later remarried into the family of
Iroakazi and that her mother’s husband had
gone on a business trip to the eastern part of
Nigeria.
At the Bode Thomas Police Station, police
sources alleged that the little girl confessed
that her mistress poured kerosene on her. The
police at the station said the woman would be
transferred to the State Criminal Investigation
Department, SCID, Panti for further
investigation into the matter, but Ogwu
alleged that the police were trying to shield
the woman from prosecution.
In her statement at the police station,
Iroakazi denied that she poured kerosene on
the little girl’s body and set her ablaze.
According to her, she was in the sitting room
when she heard a loud cry and rushed out
only to see the girl on fire and called on
people to help put out the fire.
Officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Women
Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, were at
the hospital and the police station where they
spoke with the woman, but she denied the
story.
WAPA officials took Okon-Bassey, the second
girl with them for rehabilitation pending when
she would be reconciled with her real mother.
[PM NEWS]
No comments:
Post a Comment